CHAP. After the reduction of Bourges, the natural progress of the royal army would have been to lay siege to Orleans, to which encouragement was given by the tidings that Montluc had taken Agen and again threatened Montauban. But it was now certain that Queen Elizabeth, alarmed by the energetic aid which Spain and Rome both gave to the French Catholics, and which must eventually turn against herself, had come to the resolution to send an army to the support of the Huguenots. She began by offering her arbitration to the contending parties, which the French court declined.* She then concluded a treaty with Condé†, stipulating to do for the Huguenots precisely what the Pope had done for the Catholics, send 6000 soldiers to their aid, and pay them 100,000 angels. Havre de Grace, or Newhaven, as it was then called, was to be given to her, and it was to be restored at the end of the war in exchange for Calais. In order to meet and frustrate this invasion, the royal army quitted the Loire, and hastened, in the last days of September, to lay seige to Rouen, which 3000 English were destined to occupy. Montgomery, who commanded in it, had however not at first more than 2000 men, of whom 600 were English, whilst the besieging army amounted to nearly 30,000 soldiers. By bringing detachments continually to the attack, the Duke of Guise wearied out the besieged, and in this manner carried the Fort St. Catherine by storm on the 6th of October. A week later, having effected a breach in the walls of the town by the fire of forty pieces of artillery, a series of assaults was made upon it during two successive days, without other success than destroying 600 of the besieged. * In August, 1562. Throgmorton in Forbes. † Sep. 20: Memoirs of Condé, vol. iii., and Forbes' Elizabeth, vol. ii., By the 25th an entire which also contains the queen's declaration. D'Aubigné and the other sources. Killigrew's letter in Forbes. gate was blown up and destroyed, leaving a wide breach. The assault, in Montgomery's words, "was at first 800, who were repulsed: 800 more, coming to aid them, were driven back by the Englishmen: 400 more came to relieve these, and so forced an entrance. The market was furnished with 2000 men to relieve the English, but on sight of the entry ran away." Catherine tried much to save Rouen by capitulation, as she had done Bourges. But the English troops would not surrender. Killigrew, as well as Montgomery, with difficulty escaped by the river. The victors made a large harvest by booty. The day before the final assault the King of Navarre was wounded in the left shoulder with an arquebus shot. Brought to his quarters, he lingered, refusing to receive the last consolations of religion from either Catholic or Calvinist, and died, it seems, professing the faith of the Confession of Augsburg. The death of the worthless prince was avenged by the execution of Marlorat, the chief French Protestant divine that had attended the Colloquy of Poissy, of the president Esmandreville, and six Huguenot captains. The Prince of Condé in reprisals hanged Sapin, Judge of Parliament, and an abbé, who were proceeding as envoys to Spain. After the capture of Rouen, the Catholic chiefs determined to lay siege to Orleans. D'Andelot, after infinite pain and effort, succeeded in mustering at Bacarach, on the 10th of October, an army of 4000 lansquenets (twelve enseignes) and nine cornets of reistres (33,000 horse), with which he entered Orleans, on the 6th of November. About the same time Duras, who had suffered a serious defeat at Ver, and Rochefoucault * Vaughan to Cecil. Forbes' Elizabeth, vol. ii. p. 143. Secretary Robertet writes to the Duke of Nemours, "Les 400 Anglais dans Rouen sont si opiniâtres qu'ils ayment mieux mourir que parler de composition, Montgomery + Letters from Rouen, giving CHAP. XXIII. XXIII. CHAP. arrived with all the troops they could save from Montluc in Guyenne, not exceeding 300 horse and 1500 foot. Finding himself at the head of a respectable army*, Condé, on the 8th of November, quitted Orleans, and proceeded in the direction of Paris, which he reached on the 28th, encamping his soldiers in the fields and villages north of that city. Catherine of Medicis, as usual, took advantage of the Prince of Condé's approach to open negotiations and arrange interviews. They led to nothing; and the Huguenots, unable to force an entrance into the capital, took the route to Normandy, in order to unite with the English, who, under Warwick, occupied Havre. The Catholic commander manœuvred to prevent this junction, and on the 19th of December, 1562, both armies found themselves in each other's presence, in the vicinity of Dreux. The Prince of Condé was far superior in horse, chiefly German reistres, but the 16,000 Spanish infantry doubled that of the Protestants. Condé, perceiving these formidable battalions strongly posted on the heights and amidst the vines, marched as if to pass them, both armies cannonading.† Montmorency was at the head of his regiment of gens-d'armes in the centre of the Catholic forces, with the Swiss phalanx on his left, Guise, with the Spaniards, on his right. Perceiving that some of the Huguenot squadrons quailed under his fire, he thought the opportunity good for attacking them, and gave the order. Condé and Coligny did not wait for their enemies. The former reconnoitring the Spaniards, and not liking their aspect, turned and charged into the body of Swiss, whilst Coligny did the same by the German horse and Gascons, putting both to the rout, and pursuing them * 8000 foot and 5000 horse says La Popilinière: 6000 foot and 2000 horse says Throgmorton, who was in Orleans. †The cannonading, according to De la Noue, continued two hours; the battle began at one o'clock and lasted till night. XXIII. to the river. Montmorency came to the succour of the CHAP. Brief but graphic accounts of the war have been left charged them, was defeated and † La Noue, De Thou, and De la Coligny gave much the same account to Queen Elizabeth. § Archives Curieuses, Cimber and Danjou, tom. v. There are short accounts of the action, both by Coligny and by Guise. CHAP. upon them. XXIII. The Spaniards gave two volleys, and then prepared to charge with their pikes, when the Huguenots wavered and shrank from the encounter. The Prince of Condé exerted himself to save the victory that had been his, and Coligny brought all the cavalry that would follow him to a charge, in which the Maréchal St. André was taken and slain. But it was impossible to rally the reistres, from a want of knowledge of their language. And Condé, his horse being killed under him, was taken prisoner, whilst Coligny withdrew in good order indeed, and unpursued, from the field, where from 7,000 to 8,000 lay dead. He implored the reistres to renew the combat on the following day. But these German auxiliaries of the Protestant army, who, as Chatillon wrote to Elizabeth, had received no pay for thirteen months, flatly refused; and this, with the captivity of his enemy Condé, and of his rival Montmorency, rendered Dreux doubly a victory to Guise. The duke was now entrusted with full power, of which he did not show himself unworthy. Though many of his followers urged the necessity of slaying Condé, the victor treated his captive with courtesy and kindness, making him share his tent for more security. He led his army immediately against Orleans, and employed the greatest activity in raising troops and funds. Coligny, declared general by the Protestants, at first withdrew to Orleans, where, although he knew he might stand a siege for a certain time, he could not well shut up the army, consisting in a great measure of horse. There was no hope from Guyenne or Languedoc where Montluc was triumphant; and Des Adretz had gone over to the enemy. Coligny, therefore, early in February, 1563, took the field with his cavalry to the number of 3000, and proceeded into Normandy for the purpose of receiving succours from the English*, leaving his bro*Chatillon's letter to Elizabeth, Forbes, xi. 319. |